Judge rejects Manaforts effort to get Mueller off his case…

A federal judge appeared to reject the majority of the arguments made by former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort in his lawsuit seeking to limit the scope of Robert Mueller‘s special counsel probe, Reuters reports.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman questioned Manafort’s attorney on the legal reasoning behind the former Trump aide’s claim that Mueller’s investigation has exceeded the boundaries of its original intent, and seemed to be skeptical of Manafort’s arguments, according to the news service.

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Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has trouble in his own house. According to court documents, one of Manafort’s former employees led an FBI agent to a storage locker filled with paperwork on Manafort’s businesses and finances. The person’s name is redacted from the filings. But he’s now at the center of a fight over evidence that could play a significant role in the government’s case against Manafort.

“People do strange things when confronted with authoritative FBI agents,” said Sol Wisenberg, a criminal defense attorney with Nelson Mullins.

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This makes the second Manafort associate known to have aided the government in the sprawling investigation into foreign influence in U.S. politics. Rick Gates, Manafort’s long-time right hand, began cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office in February…..More…

A conservatirve judge goes off on Mueller lawyer….
The comment is political and has NOTHING to do with the legal question before him….

A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Friday in the bank fraud case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one point saying he believes that Mueller’s motivation is to oust President Donald Trump from office.

Although Mueller’s authority has been tested in court before, Friday’s hearing was notable for District Judge T.S. Ellis’ decision to wade into the divisive political debate around the investigation…..

“The former son-in-law of Paul Manafort, the one-time chairman of President Trump’s campaign, has cut a plea deal with the Justice Department that requires him to cooperate with other criminal probes,” Reuters reports.

“The guilty plea agreement, which is under seal and has not been previously reported, could add to the legal pressure on Manafort, who is facing two indictments brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”

The Wall Street Journal says Jeffrey Yohai plead guilty in January and has been cooperating ever since….

Manafort strikes out again in trying to get charges against him thrown out…
If he doesn’t get pardoned?
He’s gonna be in jail for a LONG TIME….

A federal judge delivered a setback to President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Friday by refusing to throw out some of the criminal charges against him.

Manafort’s legal team had argued in a Washington, D.C., court that he was being charged twice for the same offense of lying to federal officials. Manafort maintained that the stacking up charges could negatively influence a jury against him, The Associated Press reported.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, however, said in a ruling Friday that any harm or prejudice Manafort could face would be handled by giving the jury “proper” instructions, according to the AP.

The judge dismissed the motion from Manafort without prejudice, meaning he can revisit it after his trial in the case, which is scheduled for September, the AP noted…